This is the fifth report of regional comparisons for healthcare quality and efficiency that the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions have published jointly.

Summary

Sammanfattning

This is the fifth report of regional comparisons for healthcare quality and efficiency that the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions have published jointly. As was the case previously, the primary purpose of the report is to compare regions, although hospital data are frequently presented.

The steering committee for the Regional Comparisons 2010 project consisted of Roger Molin, Agneta Rönn (through June) and Stefan Ackerby (as of August) from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, as well as Mona Heurgren and Anders Åberg from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.

The members of the joint task force were Max Köster, Behzad Koucheki, Birgitta Lindelius and Rickard Ljung from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, as well as Thomas Fröjd, Göran Garellick, Soffia Gudbjörnsdottir, Bodil Klintberg, Martin Lindblom, Sofia Tullberg and Katarina Wiberg Hedman from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and also Fredrik Westander, a consultant.

A number of people from both organisations contributed data for the report and its appendices: Charlotte Björkenstam (Cause of Death Register), Tsega Muzollo, Karin Gottvall and Olof Stephansson (Medical Birth Register), Emma Björkenstam (National Patient Register), Pinelopi Lundqvist, Johan Fastbom and Helena Schiöler (Prescribed Drug Register), Staffan Khan (Cancer Registry), Mats Talbäck (analysis of case mix) and Henrik Passmark (comparisons of participation rates) from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, as well as Helene Ellström and Berlith Persson (Waiting Times in Health Care ), Erik Sätterström (Population and Patient Survey), Åke Karlsson and Leif Lundstedt (the Swedish Case Costing Database) from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.

The effort was conducted in dialogue with contacts from all county councils and a reference group of county council directors.

External sources of data and documentation, particularly national quality registers, were used for a number of indicators. Special thanks go to representatives of the quality registers, as well as others who contributed to the report.